Vancouver Canucks Sign Cory Schneider to 3-Year, $12 Million Contract

Details: According to TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger, the Vancouver Canucks have agreed to a 3 year, $12 million contract. This move is no surprise after Vancouver turned to Cory Schneider instead of Roberto Luongo in game three of the first round in this years playoffs. Schneider had a 1-2 record and allowed four goals in 101 (.96 save %) shots in the three games he started.

The Canucks were ousted in five games by the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings.

He had a record of 20-8-1 with a .937 save percentage and 1.96 goals against average with three shutouts in the regular season.

What it means: This is the tell tale sign that the Canucks are going to do whatever they can to ship out Roberto Luongo. It is no surprise that they were looking to part ways and hand the keys over to Schneider, but this latest news of a new contract only confirms the motive.

Luongo has been one of the better goaltenders over the last half decade, but Schneider has shown that he can not only be a starting goalie in the NHL, but one of the elite netminders in the league.

The Canucks were one win away from winning the Stanley Cup two years ago, and won the Presidents Trophy last season by having the best record in the regular season, so it appears that the Canucks are tired of getting so close without anything to show for it.

I believe this is a great move for Vancouver, and it will be interesting to see what teams are willing to give Luongo a shot and take over his $6.7 million contract until the 2018-19 season. He is signed through 2021-22, but his contract dramatically dips off after the 2019 campaign.

The current goaltenders for the Panthers are Scott Clemmensen and Jose Theodore, who are 34 and 35 years old respectively.

Luongo heading to Florida makes sense, but it depends whether or not the Panthers are willing to put up the money to sign him, and whether or not they believe that Luongo is the guy who will take them deep into the playoffs.

The Panthers finished 38-26-18 last season, which was good enough to win the Southeast Division and give them the three-seed in the Eastern Conference in the Playoffs, where they lost to the New Jersey Devils.